TopLine Federal Credit Union Sponsors Student-Led Financial Literacy Research

MAPLE GROVE, Minn., Jan. 19, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Twin Cities-based member-owned cooperative TopLine Federal Credit Union partnered with a group of students from Wayzata High School to research youth financial literacy awareness and create tools to help improve it.

The students are part of Wayzata High School’s Compass Program, an experiential professional career studies program for highly motivated juniors and seniors. Courses are designed and taught in collaboration with business leaders in our community and faculty from North Hennepin and Normandale Community colleges. During the fall, a team of four students partnered with TopLine to identify opportunities for young adults to build their financial literacy while identifying and creating tools to help them begin their financial journey.

Findings from the project were presented by students based on research conducted on the current awareness of financial literacy within their local high school community, potential growth areas were identified within the young adult target age group, and the team developed strategies and concepts to raise awareness around financial institution options and how consumers benefit from using credit unions for their financial needs. They also created a toolkit with digital tools and content to be used on social media sites to educate on the credit union difference and to increase general financial literacy awareness.

“We are passionate about helping young adults understand the basics of personal finance, acting as resource to help them make healthy financial decisions and creating awareness for credit unions as financial partner options,” says Vicki Erickson, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications at TopLine Federal Credit Union. “We are honored to have the opportunity to partner with Wayzata Compass Business Management and Economics group for the third time. We worked with this highly-engaged group of students over a 7-week period, in which they uncovered financial topics their peers wanted to learn about and developed interactive and digital strategies and tools to encourage credit union awareness and financial education engagement.”

“I really enjoyed working on the charter project with TopLine. It was a really cool opportunity to be able to work with a real business, and I definitely got a lot out of the experience and time we spent working on the project, and I hope that TopLine got something they can use out of what we made too,” said Carly Glomstad, Wayzata High School Compass student.

“Part of the Compass Program at Wayzata High School is rooted within partnerships formed with local businesses to create authentic projects and to add relevance to learning that takes place within the classroom,” says Wayzata Schools Compass Coordinator Scott Tordeur. “Our partnership with TopLine Federal Credit Union has provided students with an opportunity to gain both a financial literacy tool kit and to see the inner workings of a credit union. We value this opportunity to partner with TopLine and look forward to working with them again in the future.”

Compass students practice employability skills such as workplace communication and emotional intelligence while exploring career paths and working side-by-side with professionals in the workplace. Through partnerships with North Hennepin and Normandale Community Colleges, students who successfully complete Compass courses earn college credits. The Compass program derives its inspiration from the Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS), a proven business-community-public education partnership model. Students are fully immersed in a professional culture, solving real world problems, using industry standard tools and are mentored by actual employers, all while receiving both high school and college credit. Today dozens of school districts across the U.S., including Wayzata, are members of The CAPS Network. To learn more about the Wayzata High School’s Compass Program, visit https://www.wayzataschools.org/whs/academics/compass.

TopLine Federal Credit Union, a Twin Cities-based credit union, is Minnesota’s 13th largest, with assets of more than $650 million and serves nearly 46,000 members. Established in 1935, the not-for-profit cooperative offers a complete line of financial services, as well as auto and home insurance, from its five branch locations — in Bloomington, Brooklyn Park, Maple Grove, Plymouth and in St. Paul’s Como Park — as well as by phone, mobile app and online at www.TopLinecu.com. Membership is available to anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or volunteers in Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, Ramsey, Scott or Washington Counties and their immediate family members. Visit us on our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TopLineFederalCreditUnion. To learn more about the credit union’s foundation, visit https://www.toplinecu.com/foundation.